This Pioneer Woman breakfast casserole is perfect exactly how it’s made by Ree Drummond herself. I have made this for my family over and over (and over) again, and it happily feeds everyone, every time. We love it (and her).
For casseroles, we’ve created that you’re sure to love—check out my best breakfast casserole recipes: goat cheese and prosciutto breakfast casserole, crockpot breakfast casserole, Bisquick breakfast casserole, or go all out with tater tot breakfast casserole (who doesn’t love tater tots!).
Pioneer Woman Breakfast Casserole Recipe
The Kids Are Home Casserole!!! This is what I make when I am lucky enough to get my family all under one roof. I’ve been making it for years. It is foolproof, and it always makes me feel sure that everyone will get fed—even if they all wake up for breakfast at different times.
The trick is I can make it ahead. So it’s done the night before when the kids start arriving from all over. I can have it hot and ready for whoever is up first—sausage, hash browns, cheddar cheese—all the comfort of a home-cooked breakfast in one easy-to-serve casserole.
It’s still delicious room-temp (or easy to gently warm) for whoever is last to rise. Or for when Mom finally sits down to eat. It’s one of my favorites. And I think your family will love it too.
Before You Start
These quick tips will help your Pioneer Woman Breakfast Casserole come out perfectly every time:
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✨ Thaw & Drain Hash Browns: Be sure they’re fully thawed and well-drained so your casserole bakes fluffy instead of watery.
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✨ Brown into Crumbles: Break the sausage into small pieces while cooking for even browning and flavor in every bite.
- ✨ Sauté the Aromatics: Cooking the onions and bell peppers with the sausage softens them and brings out their sweetness, adding a richer flavor base to the casserole.
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✨ Pick the Right Pan: Use a 9×13-inch dish for the full recipe. If you’re halving it, an 8×8-inch pan gives the best results.
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✨ Bake Half Batches Smart: When making only half the recipe, start checking for doneness around 30–35 minutes covered at 350°F. Then uncover, top with cheese, and bake 8–10 minutes more until set.
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✨ Let It Rest: A 10-minute rest after baking helps the eggs set so slices cut neatly and hold together.
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✨ Assemble Ahead: Perfect for holidays or busy mornings—assemble the night before, refrigerate, and bake fresh in the morning.
Pioneer Woman Breakfast Casserole Ingredients
- Breakfast Sausage: I generally use Jimmy Dean regular breakfast sausage. If you like things spicy, feel free to use the “Hot” variety.
- Green Onions: I use the white and green parts of the onion.
- Bell Pepper: You can use whichever color you like. I like the sweeter, milder red or orange.
- Eggs: I use large eggs. They should be brought to room temperature before using in this recipe.
- Heavy Cream:
- Dijon Mustard: I use regular Dijon, not stoneground. I like to keep the texture smooth.
- Tabasco: You can use whichever hot sauce you like. Tabasco has a nice amount of vinegar so it also balances the flavor profile of the casserole.
- Salt and Pepper: The quintessential seasoning. Nothing tastes good without the right amount of salt and pepper!
- Sharp Cheddar Cheese: I love using sharp cheddar rather than mild because it adds extra cheddar flavor!
- Hash browns: come in all shapes and sizes. I prefer the shredded ones, but you can experiment with different kinds. You can even try the ones with frozen peppers for an extra kick!
- The only adjustment you might need to make is cooking slightly longer if the potato is really chunky! You can also use refrigerated hashbrowns.
Can I Make Pioneer Woman Overnight Breakfast Casserole Ahead Of Time?
Yes, you can assemble the whole thing and store it in the fridge and bake it the next morning. Remember, don’t place the cold casserole dish in a hot oven.
Do I Have To Thaw Frozen Hash Browns For Casserole?
Yes. If you add them frozen, the extra moisture can throw off the recipe.
Variations
- Make Mine Bacon! Switch up the sausage and use cooked, chopped bacon instead of sausage, or use both!
- Spice it Up! Increase Tabasco sauce or hot sauce of your choice or add a minced jalapeno when you add the red bell pepper. You can also add cayenne pepper.
- Switch Up The Cheese! Of course, this is delicious made with cheddar but sometimes I love to change it up with pepper jack cheese, or Monterey Jack.
Storing + Reheating + Freezing + Make-Ahead Tips
How to Store
- Once cooled, cover the casserole tightly with plastic wrap or transfer leftovers to an airtight container. It will keep well in the fridge for 3–4 days.
How to Reheat
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For single servings, the microwave works best — heat on high for 1–2 minutes until warmed through.
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For larger portions, cover the dish with foil and reheat in a 350°F oven for 15–20 minutes. Important: if you’ve stored the casserole in a glass or ceramic baking dish, let it come to room temperature before placing it in a preheated oven to prevent shattering. Alternatively, transfer leftovers to an oven-safe pan before reheating.
Can You Freeze It?
- Yes! This breakfast casserole freezes beautifully. Wrap tightly in two layers of plastic wrap plus a layer of foil. Freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Make-Ahead Tips
- Assemble the casserole the night before, cover tightly, and refrigerate. In the morning, bake as directed, adding 5 extra minutes to the covered baking time since it will start cold.
What To Serve with Pioneer Woman Breakfast Casserole
I like to serve this for brunch with a simple fruit salad, hash brown potatoes, and maple pecan scones (so, so delicious!), cinnamon roll casserole, blueberry coffee cake, sour cream coffee cake, or our Bisquick coffee cake.
I love to add a special salad to our brunch. We love this with our Portillo’s chopped salad, strawberry spinach salad or strawberry salad (both are unique and have their own special dressings), Mediterranean salad, 7 layer salad, 1905 salad, KFC coleslaw or pineapple coleslaw, or our carrot salad just like Grandma’s!
More Breakfast and Brunch Recipes
- Hash Brown Casserole
- Bisquick Biscuits
- Cat Head Biscuits
- Biscuits and Gravy Casserole
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Zucchini Bread
- Pumpkin Scones
- Overnight Praline French Toast
- Strawberry Scones
- Christmas Sangria (with amazing cinnamon syrup)
- Bisquick Quiche
- Spinach Mushroom Quiche
- Breakfast Egg Muffins
Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pioneer Woman Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound breakfast sausage
- 6 green onions chopped, white and green parts divided
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 10 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1-2 teaspoons Tabasco, optional
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 (12-ounce package) cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
- 1 ( 30 ounce) package frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
- In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, cook the sausage (1 pound), red bell pepper(1), white and light green parts of the green onions (6), breaking the sausage up into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until there is no longer any pink, about 6-8 minutes. Cool slightly.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs (10), heavy cream (1 1/4 cups), mustard (1 tablespoon), hot sauce (1-2 teaspoons), salt (1 ½ teaspoons), black pepper (1 teaspoon) and about one-half of the remaining green parts of the scallions (save the rest to sprinkle on top of the casserole once baked.)
- Stir in 1 ½ cups of cheese, hash-browns (1 (30-ounce) package), and the cooled sausage mixture into the egg mixture. Pour the combined mixture into the prepared baking dish and smooth into an even layer.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the top with the remaining 1 ½ cup of cheese. Turn oven temperature up to 400°F. and continue to bake until the center of the casserole is set and lightly browned, about 10-15 minutes. Allow casserole to rest for 10 minutes, garnish the top with the remaining green parts of the scallions and serve.
Fans Also Made:
Notes
- I know it’s tempting to just kind of throw everything into the casserole dish – especially first thing in the morning. BUT it’s important to sauté your veggies while you’re cooking the meat. Sautéing veggies brings out their sweeter more mellow flavors and combats bitterness for a balanced profile.













This looks yummy! Can I substitute a shredded potato? Will it make it soggy or worse – not get the potato cooked?
Hey Julia. Yes, I worry that the potato may not be cooked through. You can always use a fresh potato and cook it until it’s done then use it in the casserole.
Im preparing this for my family. I made a breakfast casserole last week and the hash browns turned out like mash potatoes. Does anyone think that I need to pre cook the hash browns prior to putting into the casserole
Hey, Diana. No need to precook the hashbrowns. Just thaw and drain it first.
Could I cut recipe in 1/2…how long would I bake?
Thank you
Hi Gwen! Great questions!! For half the recipe, I suggest you Check at 30–35 minutes (covered at 350°F). Then uncover, add cheese, increase temp to 400°F, and bake another 8–10 minutes until the center is set and cheese is bubbly. Because the casserole will be shallower, it cooks faster. Always check doneness by gently shaking the pan—if the center jiggles like liquid, it needs more time. Thanks for being a part of our community.
This has become my go to Breakfast Casserole. I make it almost every Sunday and use up whatever I have in my pocket fridge. I’ve used half and half for the cream and it still works (but the cream version is better). I usually use sausage but I have used leftover ham. I vary the veggies to whatever I have-shredded zucchini left from making zucchini bread, roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes from a summer overabundance-anything works. I generally do cheddar and pepper jack but I’ve also used whatever preshredded I have left-mozzarella, mexican blend. I’ve also added leftover boursin and cream cheese. Fresh herbs are a nice addition too. Basically have at it! As long as you have the 10 eggs, cream, dijon mustard, salt and pepper you are good. The cooking times have always worked out the same. I do blot the top if it seems wet before I add the final cheese on top.
Hey, Beth! That’s amazing and sounds so yummy too! It great to be able to use ingredients you have on hand, right? Thanks sharing your tweaks, rating, and feedback 🙂
Can this be baked then portioned and frozen to reheat at later dates?
Hi Nai. It absolutely can!
The recipe calls for a red bell pepper, but the instructions don’t mention what to do with it.
Hi, it’s in Step 2, cook the bell peppers with sausage and green onions.
Baked at 275 for 90 minutes, added cheese on top and finished at 375 for 10-15 minutes. Turned out amazing and evenly cooked!
I made this for my co-workers for a breakfast meeting, you would have thought they never had a breakfast casserole in in their lives. They loved it.
So happy this was a hit for you Candy! Thanks so much for leaving a comment and the 5 star rating!!
Wondering if you could make this vegetarian? No sausage, but maybe add spinach and mushrooms along with the bell pepper and green onions.
Hi, Julie! Yes, that sounds so good! Enjoy 🙂
Hi again,
When I did the final step it set. I was going to wait on that since I’m doing the night before but all is well. Merry Christmas.
Yaaay! Thanks, Debra! Merry Christmas too 🙂
My casserole is not setting. I’m afraid because hash browns were too watery although I thawed and pressed out water. I’m uncovering and baking longer. Any thoughts? Also, check out how green onions are handled. Recipe is confusing.
Can I make it the night before?
Hi, Kim! Yes, You can assemble the whole thing and store it in the fridge and bake it the next morning. Remember don’t place the cold casserole dish in a hot oven.
This was delicious! Will be a new favorite. Takes a little time for preparation, but so worth the wait.
I agree. Hehe. I’m happy you liked this, Debbie 🙂
Thank you!~
I love your tater tot casserole, so I also tried this one. I gotta say, this goes to our weekly breakfast list! I love how easy it is and I can make it ahead.
Woot woot! That’s awesome, Amy! Thank you so much for your feedback